UFC 272 went down this past weekend (Sat., March 5, 2022) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, leaving several combatants feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Greg Hardy, who suffered his third straight loss after he was stopped by Serghei Spivak via strikes in the first round (highlights).
Likewise, Alex Oliveira suffered his fourth straight defeat after he was finished by Kevin Holland in the second round (recap here). But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the pay-per-view (PPV) show?
Jorge Masvidal.
The build-up to Masvidal’s highly-anticipated showdown against his former best friend turned-bitter rival, Colby Covington, was filled with insults, threats and promises. Come fight night, only one man held up his end of the bargain as Covington controlled the pace of the 25-minute headliner to earn the lopsided unanimous decision victory.
That’s not to say “Gamebred” didn’t have his moments, but they were so few and far between that it wasn’t enough to close the gap of the enormous lead “Chaos” built up throughout his wrestling clinic.
The loss was Masvidal’s third straight defeat, with the other two coming in back-to-back title fights against current division champion, Kamaru Usman. Masvidal’s last victory came in Nov. 2019, a third round technical knockout win over Nate Diaz at UFC 244.
Following his latest defeat, Masvidal was quick to admit where it all went wrong.
“I think the only thing that makes sense is for me to get in the gym, me to get into track and field and just get after it,” he said after the fight. “Get in great shape, see where my headspace is at and then three or four months from now, make that decision who’s next. For right now, I want to clear the cobwebs up. It’s not that I’m hurt or nothing but to lose to a punk like that, it sucks.
“It just sucks because this idiot talked about my kids,” he continued. “He’s still somebody that if I see him out in the streets, I’m going to give him everything I’ve got to break his fucking jaw,” Masvidal continued. “It doesn’t matter if I lost wrestling scrambles tonight, I still think he’s a f—king pussy, you know?”
Despite his recent woes, Masvidal can rest easy knowing that prior to UFC 272 he inked a massive new contract extension that reportedly puts him in the Top 3 as far as UFC salaries are concerned. Barring unforeseen circumstances, “Gamebred” will still be getting paid handsomely, win or lose.
But, the name of the game is winning and Masvidal hasn’t done a ton of that lately. When he does decide to mount a comeback, I think he will be interested in seeing what happens between Usman and Leon Edwards. The two are reportedly set to face off in July, and while a title shot isn’t in Masvidal’s immediate future, a fight against Edwards should be.
That’s assuming “Rocky” comes up short against Usman for the second time. Should that happen, then a grudge match between Edwards and Masvidal makes sense given their respective spots in the Welterweight rankings and bitter past. If not, perhaps a showdown against Santiago Ponzinibbio — who is also coming off a loss — is in order.
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